The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) 2017 Graduate Development Program commenced recently, with nine graduates joining the team on rotation across functions such as energy forecasting, power systems planning and operations, and market analysis and operations.

Applications for AEMO’s highly regarded graduate program, now in its sixth year, almost doubled in the past 12 months, with AEMO receiving a record 980 applications from Australia’s best and brightest engineering and economics students eager to contribute to shaping Australia’s energy future.

“We’re very proud that AEMO’s three year rotation program is not only one of the leading graduate programs in our industry, but a leading graduate program in Australia,” said Executive General Manager People and Culture Ms Jo Witters.

“We’ve worked hard over the past six years to provide graduates with a challenging, rewarding and supportive program that sees them participate in four separate, nine month rotations across different areas of our business. This exposes them to the myriad of complexities, challenges and opportunities facing this industry, and allows them to drive their own professional development within AEMO and the broader industry.”

AEMO is responsible for operating Australia’s gas and electricity markets and power systems, including the National Electricity Market (NEM) and interconnected power system in Australia’s eastern and south-eastern seaboard, and the Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM) and power system in Western Australia.

AEMO also operates the Victorian Declared Wholesale Gas Market and the Victorian gas transmission system; the wholesale gas Short Term Trading Market hubs in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane; the Wallumbilla Gas Supply Hub in Queensland; and the Moomba Gas Supply Hub in South Australia.

As Australia’s independent energy markets and power systems operator, AEMO provides critical planning, forecasting and power systems security advice and services to government, industry and consumers.

“Through this program, graduates have the opportunity to go behind the scenes to see what it takes to operate 40,000km of transmission lines in the NEM, and 7,800km in the WEM,” said Ms. Witters.

“With the gas and electricity industry currently undergoing a rapid transformation due to the introduction of new technologies and carbon emissions targets, graduates in the engineering and IT fields will be highly sought after across the business, as we utilise and further develop their skills to help transform Australia’s energy landscape.”

Ms Witters explained that AEMO’s graduates are exposed to every function in the organisation during the program, including contributing to AEMO’s major forecasting and planning reports, and key initiatives such as the Future Power Systems Security and Power of Choice programs. Graduates also have the opportunity to work with AEMO’s markets, control room, forecasting, and emergency management teams.

“In our role as the independent energy and markets operator for the Australian energy industry, AEMO offers a number of external and internal training courses for our employees and stakeholders to help them better understand our complex and fast-changing industry.

“We make sure our graduates are well informed, supported and given every opportunity to contribute to the key opportunities and issues facing the energy industry, whether it’s working towards integrating renewables into our current energy systems, supporting new energy technologies driven by consumer behaviour and energy consumption, analysing the impact of carbon emissions targets set under the COP21 Paris agreement on Australia’s energy supply and demand, or providing solutions to help make Australian energy markets more transparent and competitive,” said Ms Witters.

With graduates considered permanent employees in the organisation following the successful completion of the six month probation period, AEMO’s graduate development program offers job security. Graduates who have completed their three rotations have gone on to successfully work in a myriad of functions across AEMO.

“By providing our graduates with a hard to beat combination of fast-paced, dynamic and challenging on-the-job learning with competitive pay and working conditions, we are proud to support and engage with Australia’s next generation of energy experts. We are already looking forward to our next graduate intake for 2018, with applications scheduled to open in June 2017.

“The success of our graduate program to date is a huge part of our dedication and our enthusiasm to remaining an employer of choice for the best and brightest minds working in Australian energy,” said Ms Witters.